2012-03-31

Now there's one more reason to buy a Symbian or a Lumia device. Well, at least for people living in India's metro cities - Mumbai and Delhi. That said, the one reason is - Nokia is now offering real-time traffic updates for users of these two cities on both of their location apps namely Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive. This service is powered by Navteq Traffic Pro and promises to give you a faster ride by avoiding traffic. It can be called a smart move by Nokia, rather a beneficial move for their users as these two cities really have a big traffic problem.

Rajat Tandon, Director Sales, Nokia, Location & Commerce said,“The launch of this traffic feature on Nokia smartphones reflects the ever-growing consumer appetite for more interactive location based services beyond traditional turn-by-turn navigation. Going forward we will continue to introduce more location-aware services that represent the future of mobility for consumers in India”.

People can use it to avoid wastage of time or change their route if they come to know a traffic filled road is up ahead on their route. But it all depends on how well the service will work when tested in real-time. This service is available for Symbian phones on Nokia Drive and Nokia Lumia devices on Nokia Maps.

The new Hyundai i20, now christened as the 'i-Gen i20', has been launched at a wallet-friendly price tag of Rs 4.73 Lakh for the entry-level 1.2 litre Petrol version. While the top-end Petrol Automatic goes all the way up to Rs 7.67 Lakh. The Diesel powered range starts at Rs 5.96 Lakh, all prices ex showroom, Delhi.

The car now sports a new look that is more in line with Hyundai's latest fluidic design language. The i20 now gets an all new face; the grille is now hexagonal-shaped and the headlights are slimmer too. Other big changes include - a redesigned front bumper with nice set of fog-lamps, new hood and alloy-wheel design. At the back, the update includes new tail lamps and rear bumper. On the inside, the dashboard features new audio unit and redesigned switchgear

For our market, the i-Gen i20 gets a 1.2-litre Kappa petrol motor (now with dual VTVT tech) that puts out 83bhp, around 4bhp more over the previous version. The 1.4-litre diesel on the other hand version is the same old unit with no new changes. It is a powerful unit though; with 90bhp and a healthy 220nm of torque to play with. There's even a bigger and more powerful petrol engine on offer- the 1.4-litre, 98bhp version that comes with an Automatic gearbox as standard.

The new 'i-Gen i20' is available in up to 12 trim levels, 3 engine options and comes with a choice of either manual or automatic gearbox. Petrol engined i20s start from Rs 4.73 lakh to Rs 6.65 lakh. While the 1.4 automatic costs Rs 7.67 Lakh. The diesel range comes with prices starting from Rs 5.96 to Rs 7.44 Lakh, all prices ex-showroom, Delhi.

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Yes, you read it right. The company's CEO Thorsten Heins said that they has managed to sell a million Blackberry Playbook tablets. In comparison, the new iPad sold a million in just a day while Playbook has taken a year to do so.

Launched back in February 2011, the device was appreciated for it's new OS but also received hell lot of criticism for many things missing like limited app availability, no calendar,email or contact app or even BBM services unless you connect it with your Blackberry smartphone. Who would spend a $500 dollars for this then? Turns out a million people have already done that. The price drop of 50% in December 2011 or the update to Blackberry OS 2.0 can be the only valid proofs for these sale numbers or for that matter the availability of few Android apps for the tablet. The company also slashed out smartphone prices to boost sales in India.

Are you one of these million buyers? If yes, do let us know your opinion about the tablet.

2012-03-30

Just like every year, TIME has once again made out a list of people who are influential globally. This list includes leaders, artists, innovators, icons and heroes. This year's list is pretty interesting as majority of personalities belong to the tech industry itself. But some noteworthy Indians have also been short-listed and these five Indians we found in the list are truly deserving to make it to the final list of 100. The official voting ends on Friday, April 6 and the final list of 100 will be out by Tuesday, April 17.

SACHIN TENDULKAR

At the age of 39, Sachin Tendulkar is Cricket's greatest-ever batsman and is still reaching new highs: he recently became the first player to reach 100 scores of 100 in international play. The "ton of tons" came a full year after his 99th, leading some to wonder whether Tendulkar was slowing down. That's nonsense, and now that the acknowledged pressure to reach 100 is off, he's likely to cut loose — a terrifying prospect for opponents, but a terrific one for lovers of the sport.

At the age of 74, Anna Hazare through a highly publicized hunger strike, this diminutive septuagenarian channeled frustration across India over corruption, inspiring mass protests that brought the government virtually to its knees. A figure of Gandhian simplicity, Hazare's movement has compelled New Delhi's politicians to get to work on a bill that would create a powerful, independent anticorruption ombudsman — a body that could radically transform the way things work in the world's largest democracy.

Do Bollywood heroines have sex? Thanks to Vidya Balan, the answer is finally, Yes, yes, yes! Balan started her career with romantic fluff, playing coy, chaste leading ladies, but has found critical acclaim (and box office success) playing real women with real desires, from a 1970s soft-porn star to the sister of a murder victim who fights for justice. She's more popular than ever, a Bollywood icon for the knowing woman of the new India.

At the age of 61, Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat is the most polarizing figure in Indian politics. Hailed by his supporters as a pro-business man of action — an uncommon figure in a country constantly criticized for its bureaucracy — Modi is in the running to be India's next Prime Minister. But he remains associated with the ugly legacy of the 2002 Gujarat riots, where, under his watch, thousands died in an anti-Muslim pogrom.

At the age of 60, Nitish Kumar, Chief Minister of Bihar, has done what many considered impossible by introducing good governance, social equity and economic growth to Bihar, an Indian state that was once an emblem of the worst of Indian corruption, poverty and brutality. His success (and re-election) has introduced a revolutionary new idea to Indian politics: that delivering basic services to the poor is as effective a political strategy as promising handouts or pandering to religion or caste.

Cast your vote soon and spread this. If you find some other Indian serving India only, then do let us know. We'll add him/her to this list. Many other famous global personalities have made it to the list. Vote them as per your choice. FULL LIST OF TIME 100

2012-03-29

HM (Hindustan Motors) has launched an all new version of the Mitsubishi Outlander here in India. The Outlander 2012 comes with a host of upgrades to make it more appealing. The headline making feature is the introduction of seven seats, the most significant upgrade to the soft-roader. The car now carries a pricetag of Rs 20.55 Lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi)

At the front, the Outlander 2012 gets an all-new grille that is jet-fighter inspired. The overall profile, however, remains unchanged and there are no significant design tweaks to the rest of the car. On the engine front, the Outlander comes with a 2.4-litre Petrol engine that churns out 170 PS of power and 226 Nm of torque.

Other features include- CVT gearbox with paddle shifters, cruise control, the brilliant and loud Rockford Fosgate premium 710 watt music system with USB and 6-CD changer, ABS & EBD along with a new safety technology called RISE (Reinforced Impact Safety Evolution); all of which makes the new Outlander a very safe place to be.

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If you are a Reliance Mobile customer then it's better for you to check with the retailer or read vouchers carefully before activating any GPRS plans. The reason behind this is, according to Telecom Talk, Reliance Communications, today have modified their GPRS packs across India and sadly these new packages give lesser data but charge the same old price.

The old Rs.99 plan that offered a good 6GB of data has been now replaced with a lesser 2GB data pack at the same cost across India. Moving downwards in south, Reliance was offering unlimited data at Rs. 99 in Orissa. Now, this modified plan will offer a lowered 5GB.

We tried checking for more details about the new GPRS Pack on the official website of Reliance mobile and found a note on accessing prepaid plans section. The website is undergoing changes and will soon be updated with all the new plans.

Today seems the day for future gadgets to become a reality. Google's self-driving car amazed us and now LG Display unit does what no other company could mass produce. We have seen these earlier as concepts but this is the first time a flexible e-paper display will go into mass production. Yes! even you can get it in your hands very soon. This 6-inch flexible plastic display sports a 1024x768 resolution and it can stretch up to 40 degree to prove it's flexibility. A 0.7 millimeter thick display will deliver newspaper like experience for readers. If you're thinking about it's weight, then it's as light as 14grams.

There are no doubts that this technology will set an alarm for other companies and we expect tonnes of these to come throughout 2012 now. As for now, the company is aiming at a Europe launch probably next month.

Imagine you are simply eating with both hands or talking on the phone or even sleeping on the driving seat but don't worry the car is driving itself. Well, your imagination can become a reality soon. No, it's not in a James Bond or a sci-fi Hollywood flick made up with loads of visual effects to show a self-driving car.

This is for real and Google puts in a blind man in the driving seat to show you that it works. The Self-driving project led by Google was announced back in 2010 and their 2yr hard work is evident in this video test. As Google quotes this will make 'driving safer, more enjoyable, and more efficient'. The company has already safely completed over 200,000 miles of computer-led driving. The video test was arranged as a technical experiment outside of their core research efforts. Steve Mahan, the man whose lost 95% of his vision experiences the joy of driving, and more importantly, he enjoys the dignity of self-determination with the help of the self-driving car. This technology can help many and can revolutionize everything in the autonomous industry. Sit back and see it for yourself.

2012-03-28

This is not the first Blackberry maker RIM has opted in for slashing prices down to increase their sales. The same happened last year in December for Balckberry Playbook whose prices where brought down to as a low as 50% from Rs 24,490 for the 64GB version under an offer from the original price Rs 37,990. This was further reduced to Rs 19,990 earlier this month.

They have done it again. But this time it's for all the Blackberry devices. Statistics prove it that they are doing this for a boost in sales. Nokia was the leader in the smartphones segment with 38 per cent share, Samsung followed with 28 per cent share in 2011 and RIM stood at third place with a 15 per cent share.

"RIM as a brand has moved from just an enterprise device to as a more consumer device. Be it our services or the product, we have seen a strong uptake by the youth and therefore, to get the devices into more hands, we are cutting the prices," RIM India Managing Director Sunil Dutt told PTI.

Is it a smart move or just another desperate change to gain votes from young people? Well, will leave that question for you to decide. President Barack Obama has officially joined the latest insanely famous social network - Pinterest.

The news was confirmed by his Twitter account in a tweet which read - "Organizers, infographics, murals, and cake-now pinning all of the above for #Obama2012 on Pinterest". This Twitter account is handled by his 2012 re-election campaignstaff.

The Pinterest account already has 8 boards which include Obama-inspired recipes, pet lovers for Obama, etc. But most importantly 'Obama 2012 in action' is the board that will attract votes. The account has 3751 followers as of now and we expect more to come in.

For those who wondering what Pinterest is - This new social network lets you organize and share all the beautiful things you find on the web. It's all about pinning as the name suggests. What you do, is attach the link you'll like to share and the site allows you to find a image from that link and you can select the best-looking image. So instead of those boring simple links, Pinterest shares attractive images and you're taken to the link on clicking the image. Best of all, you can browse pinboards created by other people. Browsing pinboards is a fun way to discover new things and get inspiration from people who share your interests. You can follow people, repin their pins and also Like them. It's very famous among women and growing out to be a competitor to Facebook, Twitter and G+.

2012-03-27

HP's first ever Ultrabook - the Envy 14 Spectre was seen first back at CES 2012. Better late than never, this sleek Ultrabook has got the Indian launch and will hit the shelves by April. It's not hard to call this one of the most desirable Windows PC but then strikes the Rs.99,999 price tag to shatter your dreams. This might be a downfall as comparatively Apple's Macbook Air is cheaper than this Ultrabook.

This Ultrabook manages to fit in a 14-inch LED backlit Radiance display (1600×900 pixels) in the frame of a 14inch panel. As slim as 20mm, it weighs a good 1.8kg. A back-lit keyboard, proximity sensors, TrueVision Web Camera and a 4-Cell battery are the other hardware features. HP claims a 9 hour battery life.

For powering the Ultrabook, HP will be offering Intel Core i5 and i7 processors clocked at either 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz respectively. A 128GB SSD and 4GB RAM is available with the option of upgrading both as per user choice. On the connectivity front, NFC, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, Mini-Display, HDMI and 2-in-1 card reader ports are included.

HP's also offering few softwares like a 2 year subscription to Norton Internet Security and full versions of Adobe Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements. Selection from Windows 7 Home Premium or Windows 7 Professional editions is also available. The official commercial below itself is tempting to buy this Ultrabook. So, would you buy it at Rs.99,999? Official Website

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According to The Mobile Indian, the Korean company has it all planned out for the Indian smartphone market with a total of 12 new Android devices set to come out from their factories throughout 2012.

"LG will launch 12 Android based handsets in the price bracket of Rs 7,000 to Rs 35,000 for Indian consumers this year," Sanjay Maheshwary, head of marketing, mobile communications, LG Mobile, said to The Mobile Indian.

In this line-up of many devices, the first one will be LG Optimus 4X HD. Yes! We had earlier mentioned during MWC 2012 that it's the smartphone you desire to have. This quad-core beast running on Nvidia Tegra 3 processor with Android 4.0 ICS is coming by May to Indian shores.

We had covered up the other devices LG had showed-off earlier including the Optimus Vu, the L-series phones, 3D phones, etc. Head over the links below to know more about the specifications of the phones LG will be revealing:

Sony's longest line of product series - Walkman gets two new players for the Indian market called 'NWZ-B172' and 'NWZ-B173'. Both the players belong to 'NWZ-B170' series. Don't judge them by the unusual model names. The two almost identical players sport a new, sleek design similar to that of a USB dongle.

Sony claims a good 18 hours of music playback through built-in lithium-ion batteries. The Quick Charge feature provided in here, charges the players in just three minutes, giving you 90 minutes of play. The color-matched LED Flash lights on board that change according to the tune of the music surely play a vital role in grabbing eye candies. A BASS button provided in the player maximizes the audio experience.The NWZ-B172 comes with 2 GB internal memory, while the NWZ-B173 sports 4 GB. Drag and drop functionality with a smart music finder called 'ZAPPIN' are packed in for better user experience.

The two are available in four attractive chic style colors including black, red, gold and pink hues. Sony has priced the higher model NWZ-B173 at Rs.3990 and the lower model NWZ-B172 at Rs.2990. Both the Walkman players are available throughout India in Sony stores and other stores.

The waiting finally comes to an end. The immensely popular iOS game, Temple Run with around 45 million players, has just now landed for the Android platform in the Google Play Store. Available for Android 2.1 and up users, this massive game has a download size of 26MB. Developed by Imangi Studios, the game is available for a free download just like it was on Apple devices. Stolen idols, evil monkeys, coins, through an endless journey by using swipe gestures to jump, dodge, and avoid traps is the highlight of this game.

We have just downloaded the game and are heading to check it out. Full review coming soon. Till then, you grab it and give out your comments.

2012-03-26

Rovio's latest offering launched less than a week ago, 'Angry Birds Space' is still hot as now the game has topped a whopping 10 Million downloads in the first three days, since it's launch. The official Twitter account of Angry Birds announced this news as you can see in their tweet below.

The tweet did not mention the downloads by each platform. The space game is for now available on iOS, Android, PC and Mac. The Windows Phone version is set to come later soon.

That's not it for 2012. Rovio has plans on releasing four more games throughout the year. So, are you one of these 10 Million users? (We are!) Do let us know your game experience.

All Android users are aware of the fact that they cannot access the notification or status bar when working or playing on a Full screen app. The stock Gallery App itself works in a Full screen mode restricting users access to the notification bar. But now an app named 'Smart StatusBar' developed by Kiumiu.CA is here to the rescue. The App is designed to reveal status bar in any Full screen app with a simple gesture. Yes! It perfectly does that without a glitch.

On starting up, the welcome screen itself asks you to practice the gesture. A simple swipe from the top of your phone will reveal the stock Android statusbar and then you have to swipe the revealed bar till down to view your notifications. This comes in very handy while your playing a game and just need to check out if there's a important notification or not.

Moving ahead when you click Next, the app directs you to the settings section. Don't make the mistake of ticking off the first two options of start/stop and start on boot, or else you will wind up complaining about the app. Another utility found here is that you can decide on a Timeout. This will make the statusbar hide itself automatically after the selected timeout. It's better if you keep the Touch Vibration Feedback 'on' as it will help you understand whether your gesture worked out or not while testing the app in Full screen mode. That's all in the settings. Now let's test it.

The Smart StatusBar does exactly what it's meant to do. We tried it at various apps as you can see above. Just a small swipe from the top instantly showed the status bar followed by a vibration feedback. The only single full screen app where the Smart StatusBar didn't work was in the recently launched 'Angry Birds Space' game. Rest assured it will work elsewhere. The app really is smart as the name suggests.

2012-03-24

Audi has launched yet another sports-car, the iconic TT, to add to its impressive lineup that includes the RS5, the R8 supercar and the R8 Spyder.

The new TT, currently in its 2nd generation, comes with a 2.0 TFSI engine that makes around 215bhp @ 6,000rpm and 350Nm of torque @ 1,600rpm, all of which allow for some mighty performance figures - the car goes from 0-100kph in just over 5.5 seconds. Power is put down via S-tronic twin-clutch gearbox to all the four wheels. Yes, the permanent 4WD or Quattro is standard on the 2.0 TFSI version as well.

The new TT goes on sale in June this year with a price-tag of Rs 48.36 lakh (ex-showroom) Audi has released the prices considering the 15% rise in customs duty in the recent Budget for 2012-13. The car will be sold as a CBU (completely built unit) and will be fully imported.

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Lately, we have been seeing an array of low-cost tablets getting launched under the 10K segment. And now we got two more participants interestingly called the Ira Thing and the Ira by WishTel. Priced at Rs.4000 and Rs.5,500 respectively, the tablets directly aim at giving competition to the cheapest tablet - Aakash in the Indian market.

They'll be running on Android 2.2 but an update to 2.3 is promised very soon. As far as specifications go, the two are pretty much identical except for touchscreen type and battery. The Ira thing has a resistive touchscreen and the Ira has a capacitive touchscreen. The Ira Thing has a 2,200 mAh battery where as the Ira has a 2,800 mAh battery. Rest of the similar specifications include a 7-inch display, 800MHz CPU , Wi-Fi connectivity, 2GB internal memory, 512MB RAM, 3G modem support via USB and a 3.5mm audio jack. Wishtel is also offering some preloaded apps such as a Web Browser, Media Player, Photo viewer, Office, MSN, Skype, Gtalk, Note pad, etc.

Richard Brown, VP International Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc., said, “With the introduction of the IRA and IRA Thing, Wishtel is leading the way in driving tablet innovation in India. The potential for these devices is breathtaking, particularly in areas such as education.”

2012-03-23

Samsung's 2012 line-up of smartphones for the Indian market has rather been a dull one till now. With no sign of the much-awaited Galaxy S III or even an Android ICS running device in sight, the company is busy upgrading their old models in to better one's. It's not something new. Samsung has a habit of filling in their Galaxy line-up with models ranging from any size or shape you can imagine. Keeping this trend in mind, the Korean giant has launched the Galaxy Ace Plus, an upgrade to the very popular Galaxy Ace of 2011. The added 'Plus' surely brings in a much-needed slew of features to the device. For starters, the upgrade includes a 1Ghz processor, TouchWiz 4.0 UI and the video quality made reasonable to VGA (640 x 480 ) @ 30fps. It's time to indulge in the main course. Stay glued till you reach the dessert aka Verdict.

Design and Hardware

At first look, the phone's design feels just like a standard Samsung smartphone with typical round edges, 3-buttons placed at bottom and the all-plastic build can be blamed. Unlike the old Galaxy Ace had a 3.5" display, the Plus gets a small update here to 3.65". The good part here is on keeping the two brothers side-by-side, one can barely notice an increase on the overall size. What Samsung did was, reduced the space occupied by the earpiece above and the three buttons below to adjust the bigger screen. The three buttons below include only one hardware 'home' button while the other two, menu and back one's are touch-sensitive.

Another design change in the new Ace Plus can be found at the back of the phone. The old Ace had an entire finely textured surface which looked rather good and felt secure to hold, but the new Ace Plus has now opted in for cornered bezel first, followed by a small plastic texture. The back obviously holds the 5-megapixel camera along with an LED flash below it and the speaker grille to it's right. The placement of the camera is perfect at the top-center of the phone. A small bump from the body comes out at the bottom. That's all to talk about the back.

The headphone jack and USB/charging port lie all opened at the top-center and bottom of the phone, respectively. The power button lies on the upper right-side of the body in typical Samsung style. Volume rocker keys reside on the left. There's no physical camera button. Well, this isn't something new as all the phones from Galaxy line-up don't have it. The phone feels light-weighted at 114g. Although it's not one of those slim profile smartphones, it does not feel bulky at all at 11.2mm thinness. The overall feel and look of the phone is clean and simple. Nothing attractive or ugly here.

Display

Even though Samsung introduced a bigger display for the Ace Plus but they left the display's resolution same at HVGA (320 x 480) and the pixel density is also lesser at(~158). A slightly bigger resolution of 400x800 would have been reliable. These limitations are evident in viewing angles of the display. You need to maximize the brightness output for outdoor usage. Indoors, the display is vibrant and filled with bright colored icons. The display is no where close to the clarity of Samsung's own Super AMOLED or even iPhone's Retina display. The display is just fine for normal phone usage and watching a film might not be prove entertaining.

Software

Samsung did a great job of upgrading the Galaxy Ace Plus with Android Gingerbread 2.3.6. and TouchWiz 4.0 UI. Many minor fixes and new add-ons have made the Ace Plus a smooth performer. Unlike the old Galaxy Ace, this one managed to impress us and the credit foes to the 1Ghz Processor lying underneath.

The first feature added here is the new lock screen. It opens up quickly thanks to the slide-to-unlock gesture that can be performed anywhere on the display. The transition is shorter and smooth.

The homescreen looks vibrant and organized with all new widget style placement in TouchWiz 4.0. You get seven homescreens to arrange all your widgets and shortcuts. The style of adding widgets has also visually changed and looks appealing. Long-press the home button pops up the standard Android task switcher and Samsung has provided their own fully functional Task Manager. But we didn't really had the need to use it again and again.

Other changes by Samsung are found in the app drawer. Now, you can add folders and a new page altogether, just like in Galaxy S II. The four shortcuts to keypad, contacts, messaging and menu remain intact when the app drawer is opened but they can also be customized according to your choice except for the menu button. Moving around menus and pages is smooth and we found no lags. Swipe-in with two fingers and you get a preview of all the pages.

The Browser also gets a bit of tweaks like a very useful swipe in with two fingers minimizes the current window and shows all running windows in a fluid left-to-right navigation style. Surfing around to media-rich websites was smooth and page loading didn't took much time. The browser supports Flash and playing a 720p video on YouTube was no issue for the phone. Another added functionality includes setting website specific brightness. A small yet handy tool.

Music & Video Player

Samsung has used the stock redesigned music player of TouchWiz UI. Equalizer presets plus an added custom preset are handy add-ons to the Music Player. A noteworthy feature inhere, is the ability to search for a title song directly on YouTube or simply Google it right from the Music Player. Biography of the singer can be searched on the net right from the player. Talking about the performance, the music levels are loud enough to fill in a room. This is possible through DNSe sound-enhancing technology used by Samsung. We entered an altogether different world as soon as those white headphones entered our ears and 5.1 channel surround sound button was switched on. The music seemed too noisy if 5.1 channel was switched-off. Overall, the Galaxy Ace Plus serves as a real good music companion. Samsung's offering free Bluetooth headset along with the phone. We experienced reduced noise levels and echo cancellation on the headset. It's free and that's great.

The Video player has nothing high-end to it. A simple clean layout of play, forward and rewind button is all you find in here. The codec support is limited to 3GP/H.263/H.264/MPEG4. No Divx/Xvid support present here. So you will have to download third-party apps from the Play Store.

Performance

The Galaxy Ace Plus doesn't disappoint as a performer. Samsung has done a great job of blending in TouchWiz 4.0 with Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread. The old Ace carried 800Mhz Processor. Considering the phone isn't a dual-core, we were amazed by the fluid performance. Although handling some games is the job of a dual-core processor, the single core Scorpion processor, Qualcomm S1 in the Ace Plus is sufficient enough for daily use and suits perfect to a mid-range handset. Here's where the Ace Plus stood out. A good 512 MB of RAM helps in the overall performance.

Camera

The camera remains the same on Galaxy Ace Plus with a 5-megapixel snapper capable of shooting at a maximum resolution of 2560 x 1920 pixels. The interface too remains the same here as it was in the old Galaxy Ace.You have ample amount of scene modes to decide from and a 3X zoom.We took it out to test it in real-time and came back a bit disappointed. Samsung has tried to reduce noise level as much as possible but in return the camera seemed to have lost fine detail, sharpness and the pictures seem softened up on getting a closer look. Surprisingly, the camera is good at handling macro shots. One thing worth mentioning is, pictures are clicked real quick one after the another. Overall, the camera is above average and will serve well on a normal regular usage.

All Camera Shots can be found at the end of the review.

One very needed upgrade Samsung made here is by introducing VGA video recording (640 x 480 ) @ 30fps. The old Galaxy Ace had below par video recording at 15fps QVGA. We still didn't understand that why Samsung didn't opt in for 720p video recorder given the Ace Plus now has a 1Ghz Processor with it. Well, better to have something than nothing. Video quality is average as expected but better than the old Ace.

One big major drawback of the Galaxy Ace Plus is Samsung just forgot to add a front camera to the phone. It's shocking to notice this. Every phone in this budget segment has a front camera. So, if you use video calling, then this isn't the phone for you.

Connectivity

All necessary connectivity options are present in here. 3G, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, stereo Bluetooth 3.0, microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS and TV out. We didn't face any issues while transferring through Bluetooth and the GPS served well. There seemed to be some problem with our model's Wi-Fi connection. We had to reconnect it after every 10-15mins to get the connection back. We hope this might not be an issue with other models.

Battery life

This is where a device needs to perform well. The Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus carries a 1300mAh battery, a little lesser than the 1350mAh battery found on the old Galaxy Ace. On a daily basis with regular calls, packet data usage, music and surfing, the battery manages to survive for three fourth of a day. On our battery test with Wi-Fi left on, 50% brightness and a video left to play on loop, the battery lasted for 7hours. We wish Samsung had added a 1500mAh battery to boost the battery life.

Samsung offers only some pre-loaded apps like ChatON (their own cross-messaging platform), KIES 2.0, Social Hub, etc. The internal memory here is a good 3GB which can be expanded up to 32GB. A document and an image editor are built in.

Verdict

At an MRP of Rs.16,290, the Galaxy Ace Plus impresses at many areas but also has a few downfalls. A missing front view camera, average video recording and a low display resolution are the major limitations which stop the Ace Plus from being called the Best Budget Android device. Other than that, the 1Ghz processor impresses as a performer and the refined TouchWiz UI with Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread gives the user a fluid experience. All-in-all, the Galaxy Ace Plus outperforms the old Ace and is recommended at that price tag. It won't disappoint you except for a few drawbacks. On a scale of 1 to 10, the phone stands at 6.5/10.